Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T21:10:00.089Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Education and Assimilation in Taiwan under Japanese Rule, 1895—1945

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

E. Patricia Tsurumi
Affiliation:
University of Victoria, British Columbia

Extract

Education and assimilation were key components of Japanese colonial policy in Taiwan: assimilation of the island's native Taiwanese population (native islanders of Chinese ancestry) was an important goal; education was an instrument for attainment of this goal. When during their fifty years of rule (1895–1945) Taiwan's administrators altered their interpretation or definition of assimilation, they modified educational policies accordingly. From beginning to end of the Japanese period in Taiwan its government intended education for native islanders to be a major tool of its assimilation policy, which although a consistent policy was not a static one.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 See Barclay, George W., Colonial Development and Population in Taiwan (Princeton, New Jersey, 1954).Google Scholar

2Ikutoku, Ō, Taiwan: kumon suru sono rekishi [Taiwan: her agony and her history] (Tokyo, 1954), pp. 133–4,Google Scholar has pointed out that during the Pacific War people in China, Manchuria, and the South Seas could not distinguish Taiwanese from Japanese. As Ō put it, thousands of Taiwanese who received post-secondary training in Taiwan or in the home islands ‘entered the ranks of Japanese [intellectuals], becoming almost indistinguishable from them’. Ibid., p. 133.

3 For Izawa's detailed proposals for eductional programs for Taiwanese see Hidekimi, Yoshino, Taiwan kyōiku shi [A history of Taiwan's education] (Taihoku, 1927), pp. 1114.Google Scholar

4 See Chapter Two of Tsurumi, E. Patricia, ‘Japanese Colonial Education in Taiwan, 1895–1945’ (Ph.D. Thesis, Harvard University, 1971).Google Scholar

5Kiwata, Ide, Taiwan chiseki shi [The administrative record in Taiwan] (Taihoku, 1933), pp. 330–1.Google Scholar

6Hachirō, Kaminuma, Izawa Shūji (Tokyo, 1962), pp. 215–17.Google Scholar

7See for example the speech to the Taiwanese literati which Gotō made at the Yōbunkai [Cultural Advancement Society] conference on March 18, 1900.Gotō Shimpei monjo [The papers of Gotō Shimpei], Pt. 8, No. 30.Google Scholar

8Lamley, Harry J., ‘The Taiwan Literati and Early Japanese Rule, 1895–1915’ (Ph. D. Thesis, University of Washington, 1964), p. 438.Google Scholar

9kai, Taiwan kyōiku (ed.), Taiwan kyōiku enkaku shi [A record of the development of education in Taiwan], henceforth TKES (Taihoku, 1939), pp. 984–5.Google Scholar

10Lamley, , ‘The Taiwan Literati,’ p. 432.Google Scholar

11TKES, pp. 408–9.Google Scholar

12Lamley, , ‘The Taiwan Literati’, pp. 433–4.Google Scholar

13Sadayoshi, Takeuchi, Taiwan kanshū [Customs of Taiwan] (Taihoku, 1915), p. 635.Google Scholar

14TKES, pp. 408–10.Google Scholar

15Ibid., pp. 985–6.

16 Perhaps some found emotional satisfaction in teaching because part of the close bond between pupil and the old-style Chinese schoolmaster was carried over into the Japanese classrooms. Teaching may also have attracted recruits because from the beginning it was organized as a modern-style profession demanding formal qualifications for entry and clear-cut procedures for upgrading one's position once one had entered the profession. It also offered a host of wider-ranging professional activities.

17 See the case of the family of Peng Ming-min, as described in Ming-min, Peng, A Taste of Freedom: Memoirs of a Formosan Independence Leader (New York, 1972), pp. 129.Google Scholar

18Ō, Taiwan, p. 114.Google Scholar

19 TKES, pp. 91–9.

20 For Akashi's insistence on the need to broaden educational and employment opportunities for Taiwanese and the resistance of subordinates in his administration to such measures see Tokuji, Komori, Akashi Motojirō, 2 vols (Taihoku, 1928), I, pp. 50–9.Google Scholar The vigorous opposition of Akashi's bureau and department heads to more vocational training for native islanders clearly represented the judgement of the policy-makers of earlier administrations. However, employers were finding fewer and fewer skilled Japanese workers available for employment. The First World War, which stimulated the Japanese economy immensely, created a great demand for skilled workers in Japanese industries. Thus there were fewer of them available for employment in the colonial economy, which also surged ahead during the war. Because of this scarcity of skilled workers, a need for new vocational facilities was felt in Japan. See Tadao, Yanaihara, ‘Teikoku shugika no Taiwan’ [Taiwan under Imperialism], Yanaihara Tadao zenshū [Collected works of Yanihara Tadao], 29 vols (Tokyo, 19631965), II, p. 344.Google Scholar

21sōtokufu, Taiwan (ed.), Taiwan sōtokufu keisatsu enkaku shi [A history of the Taiwan government-general police], henceforth TSK, 4 vols (Taihoku, 19331941), III, p. 24.Google Scholar

22TKES, p. 409.Google Scholar

23Ren, Shibata, Taiwan dōka saku ron [On Taiwan's Assimilation Policy] (Taihoku, 1923), p. 81Google Scholar, reports that Taiwanese parents, in the south especially, objected strenuously when Chinese language studies were dropped.

24Ch'un-mu, Hsieh, Taiwanjin wa kaku miru [The Taiwanese see it like this] (Taihoku, 1930), pp. 5561; Yanaihara, ‘Teikoku shugika no Taiwan,’ p. 248.Google Scholar

25 See for example Hsieh, , Taiwanjin wa kaku miru and Ts'ai P'ei-huo, Nihon hono-kokumin ni atō [To the homeland Japanese!] (Tokyo, 1928).Google Scholar

26TKES, pp. 985–6.Google Scholar

27TSK, III, pp. 22–3.Google Scholar

28Komori, , Akashi Motojirō, II, p. 235.Google Scholar

29 In that year the Tokyo government made substantive changes in the colonial policies which governed both Taiwan and Korea.

30 See Tsurumi, ‘Japanese Colonial Education in Taiwan,’ Ch. 6.

31 See Miao-chang, Chin, Buraku kyōka no jissai [The practical side of hamlet education] (Taichū, 1940);Google Scholarsōtokufu, Taiwan, Taiwan ni okeru yūryō buraku shisetsu gaikyō [A survey of outstanding village facilities in Taiwan] (Taihoku, 1940);Google ScholarEiji, Nakagoe, Taiwan bo shakai kyōiku [Social education in Taiwan] (Taihoku, 1936).Google Scholar

32Diamond, Norma J., ‘K'un Shen: A Taiwanese Fishing Village’ (Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University, 1966), p. 171Google Scholar, describes a school that appeared to have been completely outside of the main stream of village life. During the Japanese period it was furnished by the government-general and patronized only by a few of the richest villagers.

33 Interviews with Taiwanese informants in Taihoku and Tainan in June, July, and August, 1969.

34 An interview with a junior executive in a Japanese-Taiwanese company in Taipei, June, 1969.

35 An interview in Taipei, July, 1969.

36Since the Japanese controlled most of the industrial concerns as well as the administration, there was little Taiwanese could do about this. Almost no Taiwanese ever became high-ranking bureaucrats. See Yanaihara, ‘Teikoku shugika no Taiwan,’ pp. 279–93.Google Scholar

37 The construction of superior residential accommodation for Japanese colonists had been one of Gotō Shimpei's pet projects.

38 Taiwanese interviewed in 1969 repeatedly testified to this.

39Ō, Taiwan, p. 134.Google Scholar

40 A primary source for information on Taiwanese political movements is TSK, esp. III. The most exhaustive secondary work on the subject is Se-kai, , Nihon tōchika no Taiwan [Taiwan under Japanese rule] (Tokyo, 1972).Google Scholar

41 Because many of those who signed were prestigious and educated some have suggested that those who signed represented a much larger number of Taiwanese that their mere numbers suggest. See Chen, Edward I-te, ‘Formosan Political Movements Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1914–1937,’ Journal of Asian Studies, 31:3 (05, 1972), p. 485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

42TSK, III, p. 328.Google Scholar

43 See Chen, Ching-chih, ‘Japanese Socio-political Control in Taiwan, 1895–1945’ (Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University, 1973), pp. 421–2, for an excellent analysis of the educational backgrounds of association members.Google Scholar See also P'ei-huo, Ts'ai et al. , T'ai-wan min-tsu yūn-tung shih [A history of the Taiwanese nationalist movement] (Taipei, 1971), pp. 289–92, 323.Google Scholar

44Chen, Ching-chih, ‘Japanese Socio-political Control in Taiwan,’ pp. 425–6.Google Scholar

45T'ai-wan min-tsu yün-tung shih, p. 475.Google Scholar

46Chen, Ching-chih, ‘Japanese Socio-political Control in Taiwan,’ p. 441.Google Scholar

47 Since Lin Ch'eng-Iu was a graduate of Meiji University who had taught political science at Hunan University in China, his experiences were broader than some of the other Taiwanese in Japan. Back in Tokyo in 1920 he was in close touch with Yanaihara Tadao, who espoused home rule for Taiwan and Korea. sha, Taiwan shinminpō (ed.), Taiwan jinishi kan [A who's who of Taiwan] (Taihoku, 1934), pp. 459–60.Google Scholar

48Chen, Edward I-te, ‘Formosan Political Movements,’ p. 483.Google Scholar

49 See Nihon honkokumin ni atō.

50A good example is the first petition. It and its preface are reproduced in TSK, III, pp. 340–1.Google Scholar

51, , Nihon tōchika no Taiwan, p. 229.Google Scholar

52 Distinguished liberal politicians and academics were implored to throw their weight behind the activists' cause. There was no hesitation about approaching persons of national stature—Sakatani Yoshirō, Seki Naohiko, Uzawa Fusaaki, Ōtake Kan'ichi, Takada Shuhan, Nagai Ryutarō, Ozaki Yukio, Tagawa Daikichirō, Kiyose Ichirō, Yoshino Sakuzō, Abe Isoo, Uemura Masahisa, Izumi Tetsu, Shimada Saburō and Ebara Soroku were all visited by petition leaders. See TSK, III, p. 343.Google Scholar

53Ibid., p. 342.

54Regarding the public lectures see T'ai-wan min-tsu yün-tung shih, pp. 306–8.Google Scholar

55Ibid., pp. 366–8.

56See for example Edward I-te Chen, ‘Formosan Political Movements Under Japanese Rule, 19141937.’Google Scholar

57Marr, David, Vietnamese Anti-Colonialism, 1885–1925 (Berkeley, 1971).Google Scholar The Taiwanese anti-colonialists might have found it ironic that Meiji Japan was a model for early anti-French activists in Vietnam who sought aid from Japanese authorities as well as from Chinese nationalists.

58 See Lee, Chong-sik, The Politics of Korean Nationalism (Berkeley, 1963).Google Scholar

59See , , Nihon tōchika no Taiwan, pp. 234–5 for other conservative-activists who leaned towards China.Google Scholar

60Ō, Taiwan, p. 119, states that Taiwanese activists had a tendency to view China through rose-colored glasses.Google Scholar

61 Li's only son, as a graduate of Tokyo Imperial University's law faculty, had received the most prestigious Japanese education of all. As of 1937 Lin's son was employed in the government-general's department of finance. Lin's five younger children were attending elite colonial public schools (primary school and higher girls' school). His wife was a graduate of Tokyo School of Fine Arts (Tokyo bijutsu gakkō). sha, Taiwan shinminpō (ed.), Taiwan jinshi kan (1937), pp. 459–60.Google Scholar

62Lee, , The Politics of Korean Nationalism, p. 243.Google Scholar

63 See McCully, Bruce, English Education and the Origins of Indian Nationalism (New York, 1940);Google ScholarButwell, Richard, U Nu of Burma (Stanford, Calif., 1963);Google ScholarRoff, William R., The Origins of Malay Nationalism (New Haven, 1967);Google Scholar Marr, Vietnamese Anti-Colonialism,; Niel, Robert Van, The Emergence of the Modern Indonesian Elite (The Hague and Bandung, 1960).Google Scholar

64 The League for Attainment of Local Autonomy was at one point in 1931 planning to urge noncooperation with the government-general. However, after a Japanese member of the league opposed such a policy it dropped this stance. Chen, Ching-chih, ‘Japanese Socio-political Control in Taiwan,’ pp. 442–3.Google Scholar

65 See Agoncillo, Teodoro A. and Alfonso, Oscar M., History of the Filipino People (Quezon City, 1967);Google ScholarMahajani, Usha, Philippine Nationalism: External Challenge and Filipino Response, 1565–1946 (St. Lucia, Queensland, 1971);Google ScholarWilliams, D. C., The United States and the Philippines (New York, 1924);Google ScholarKirk, Grayson L., Philippine Independence, Motives, Problems and Prospects (New York, 1936).Google Scholar

66 Korean students in Japan spoke out sharply against Japanese rule in their country.

67TSK, III, pp. 3741.Google Scholar

68 During 1919 the government-general recognized nine Taiwanese students in China, but two years later government-general records reported that this figure had jumped to 273. Ibid., p. 174.

69Ibid., p. 79.

70 During the 1920s there is growing militancy among normal school and other secondary school students in the colony.See for example ibid. pp. 173–4.

71Ibid., pp. 883–4.

72 In 1926 anarchist youths met with Taiwan Cultural Association executive members and told them that they opposed the petition movement because a) it had little chance of success and b) even if it should succeed its tolerance of capitalism and imperialism was unacceptable. Ibid., p. 885.

73 Travelling theater groups under the association's sponsorship provided another outlet for their oratorical talents.

74, , Nihon tōchika no Taiwan, pp. 253258; TSK, III, 1028.Google Scholar

75, , Nihon tōchika no Taiwan, p. 290.Google Scholar

76Ibid., p. 292–3.

77For instance, the peasant farmers' unions were closely allied with such organizations in the home islands as the Japanese Farmer-Labor Party (Nihon rōdō nōmintō) and the Federation of Japan Peasant Unions (Nihon nōmin kumiai rengo). See TSK, III, pp. 1026–209Google Scholar and , , Nihon tōchika no Taiwan, pp. 256–7.Google Scholar

78Kentarō, Yamabe (ed.), Gendai shi shiryō: Taiwan I [Modern Historical documents: Taiwan I] (Tokyo, 1971), XXI, pp. 426–8,Google Scholar analyzes tenant disputes in Taiwan during the years 1927, and 1928, and 1929. Many disputes during these years involved corporations owned by Taiwanese or individual landlords who were Taiwanese.See also Kyōji, Asada, Nihon teikokushugika no minzoku kakumei undō [Revolutionary movements of people under Japanese imperialism] (Tokyo, 1973), p. 61.Google Scholar